Trivia

Both this film and the earlier hit Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis (1921) had screenplays by June Mathis, who is credited with "discovering" Rudolph Valentino. When The Great Lover died unexpectedly in 1926 and was too poor to pay for a burial plot, Mathis agreed to "lend" him the crypt intended for her husband. Nearly 100 years later, Mathis and Valentino remain interred side-by-side with her husband buried in a crypt below the two of them.

This film reunites the director Rex Ingram, star Rudolph Valentino, and screenwriter June Mathis of one of 1921's biggest box office hits, Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis (1921), which included the immortal scene in which Valentino famously danced an erotic tango and became an overnight star.

Exhibitors Trade Review noted that June Mathis's scenario remained faithful to the source material except for the ending, which had been changed for the screen.

In the novel, Charles earns a fortune trading slaves in Martinique, but is seduced by the curse of gold and never returns to Eugénie. Becoming a social climber, he arranges loveless marriage of convenience to a rich woman but is held back by his dead father's debts. Even though jilted, heiress Eugénie secretly pays off Charles' debts. She agrees to a marriage of convenience for herself but demands no consummation, and inherits her husband's fortune when he dies. Childless, she lives to donate her fortune to charity.

After the success of Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis (1921), Rudolph Valentino was suddenly a top box-office attraction. However, Metro Studios did not share the public's opinion. On Four Horsemen he had been paid a mere $350 a week. Now that he was a star, he asked Metro for an additional $100 per week but the studio was only willing to give him fifty. As a result, when he finished The Conquering Power he offered his services to Paramount Studios (Famous Players-Lasky), which immediately signed him to a five-year contract. There, he made the films that transformed him from a star into a legend --- El sheik (1921) and Blood and Sand (1922).

The Conquering Power (1921) was an attempt to recreate the chemistry of the previous year's Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis (1921), reuniting director Rex Ingram, screenwriter June Mathis, actress Alice Terry and the incomparable Rudolph Valentino. While Four Horsemen had been an epic drama, The Conquering Power was conceived as a more intimate film, albeit one spiced with dashes of moral decadence and moments of cinematic bravado.